Pasta dishes are something everybody enjoys in my house. We cook a lot with pasta as it is a versatile ingredient that is quick and easy to prepare. It is also a cheap ingredient with a long shelf-life. We always have some in the cupboard we can pull out whenever we need to make a quick meal. Like many families, we have favourite pasta dishes that we cook all the time, such as lasagne and spaghetti Bolognese. However, we also like to try new pasta recipes, such as spinach and cream cheese cannelloni with a rich tomato sauce.
I made this recipe for the first time recently, and one of the main reasons was that I had some spinach in the refrigerator that I needed to use that day. Spinach is a leafy vegetable that the adults in my house love, but the children are less keen. I wanted to try a different way of using spinach to see if I could convert them to this delicious and nutritious ingredient.
Spinach has a diverse range of vitamins and minerals you need to maintain health. Both spinach and cream cheese are excellent sources of vitamin K. So, it is a great dish for getting vitamin K in your diet.
On the day I decided to make this spinach and cream cheese cannelloni, we didn’t have any cannelloni tubes in the cupboard. Instead, I decided to make my own using lasagne sheets. In the recipe below, I have included instructions for how to make this dish using both cannelloni tubes and lasagne sheets.
As with all my recipes, I developed the dish to suit my family’s tastes, and it is easy to adapt to suit your own. Read the additional tips at the end of the recipe. It has ideas for adapting this dish to meet your needs or preferences.
The instructions for making this dish differ depending on whether you are using cannelloni tubes or lasagne sheets. Therefore, the recipe includes instructions for both methods. Here is an easy recipe for spinach and cream cheese cannelloni with tomato sauce.
Spinach and Cream Cheese Cannelloni
Course: International Recipes, Recipes, Vegetarian and Vegan RecipesCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium4
servings20
minutes1
hourNO
YES
NO
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A delicious recipe for spinach and cream cheese cannelloni, an Italian stuffed pasta dish
Ingredients for the Spinach and Cream Cheese Cannelloni
8 cannelloni tubes or lasagne sheets
10 oz./ 300g cream cheese
7 oz./ 200g spinach, finely chopped
4 oz. cheddar or similar cheese, grated
Black pepper
- Ingredients for the Tomato Sauce
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato puree
1 bell pepper (any colour) finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
½ glass of red wine
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Directions: How to Make the Spinach and Cream Cheese Cannelloni
- How to Make the Tomato Sauce
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
- Add the finely chopped peppers and celery to the pan, then cook for five minutes.
- Next, add the crushed garlic to the pan and cook for two more minutes.
- Add the red wine (if using) to the pan and cook for two or three minutes. It is important to cook the wine before adding the tomatoes to cook off the alcohol and to prevent the sauce from developing an acidic taste.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, basil, and oregano to the pan.
- Stir the ingredients together and turn the hob down to low heat.
- Season with a little salt and a generous grind of black pepper.
- Leave the sauce to simmer and reduce while you make the spinach and cream cheese cannelloni.
- Add a little water and stir if the sauce is overly reduced and looks too thick.
- How to Make the Cannelloni Filling
- You can make the filling for the cannelloni at the same time as you make the sauce.
- Put a saucepan over low heat on the hob.
- Add the cream cheese to the pan until it melts, and then stir.
- Next, add the chopped spinach to the pan and season with black pepper.
- Stir the spinach into the cream cheese and leave over the heat until the cream cheese has softened.
- Remove from the heat and leave to cool, as adding the filling to the cannelloni is easier if it is cool and firm.
- Assembling and Cooking the Spinach and Cream Cheese Cannelloni When Using Cannelloni Tubes
- Preheat the oven to 200C/ gas mark 6.
- Read the instructions on your pack of cannelloni first, as brands differ. Some require no precooking, and some need cooking before they are baked in the oven.
- Even if they do not need precooking, you might like to blanche and soften the pasta tubes before use to reduce the cooking time in the oven. Do not overcook the tubes, as they are harder to fill when soft.
- If you blanche the cannelloni tubes, then you will need to leave the tubes to cool on a plate before filling.
- The best way to fill the tubes with the filling is by using a piping bag. Alternatively, use a spoon and your fingers (after washing your hands) to fill the tubes.
- Once the tubes are filled, lie them in the oven dish before covering them with the tomato sauce.
- Sprinkle the grated cheese over the dish, then put it in the oven.
- Bake the spinach and cream cheese cannelloni with tomato sauce in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the cheese has turned golden brown.
- Serve this dish with garlic bread and salad, or sprinkle it with micro herbs for a dash of colour.
- Instructions When Using Lasagne Sheets
- Preheat the oven to 200C/ gas mark 6
- Put a pan of water over high heat and bring to a boil before reducing the heat so the water simmers.
- Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the water and stir through, as this will stop the lasagne sheets from sticking.
- Place one lasagne sheet in the water, then add a spoon to the pan so the end of the spoon sits on the lasagne sheet and the handle leans against the side of the pan.
- Add a second lasagne sheet to the pan so that it sits over the spoon but is still covered by water. Doing so will make it easier to remove the sheets from the water separately.
- Cook the lasagne sheets for approximately five minutes or until they have started to soften. You need to make sure they are soft enough to roll.
- Remove the lasagne sheets from the water and lie on a cold plate to cool.
- Repeat this process with the remaining lasagne sheets.
- If you are baking all the spinach and cream cheese cannelloni together in an oven dish, then you can begin creating your rolls- two per person.
- From the pictures, you will see that I created individual portions of this recipe using individual oven dishes. If you choose to do this, you will need to slice your lasagne sheets in half using a sharp knife to create smaller cannelloni- four per person.
- To create the tubes and add the filling, lie the lasagne sheets flat.
- Use a spoon to add a vertical line of the filling along the lasagne sheet.
- Fold the sides of the lasagne sheets to the middle so they overlap to create tubes.
- Lift the tubes into the oven dish and turn them so that the overlapped section lies at the bottom of the dish. It will prevent them from opening.
- Spoon over the tomato sauce so that all the tubes are covered.
- Sprinkle the grated cheese over the dish, then put it in the oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese has turned golden brown.
- Serve with salad and garlic bread.
Additional Tips
- Other dishes you may enjoy include salmon tagliatelle with broccoli or chicken, chorizo, and tomato pasta bake.
- When I made this dish, I used cheddar cheese. However, you can use any hard cheese that you have available. An authentic Italian option is a grated Parmesan.
- When we make Italian dishes, we like to add plenty of garlic. If three garlic cloves are too much for you, then simply use less garlic.
- Similarly, feel free to adjust the measurement of herbs or to use fresh herbs if you have them available.
- Red wine is an optional ingredient in this recipe. I use it to give the sauce a greater depth of flavour. It is entirely up to you if you want to omit this ingredient.
- I made the spinach and cream cheese cannelloni using Philadelphia, as that was what I had in my refrigerator. However, you can use any cream cheese you want. One of the nicest options is ricotta, although a soft goat’s cheese will also work well.
